KXAS-TV
5:40 p.m. CST March 3, 2006
NBC 5 has learned that a woman in Scurry, Texas, died because of a dog attack. The attack occurred about 6 p.m. Thursday in the in Kaufman County town. According to witnesses, David Mayfield heard two women screaming from the home next door.

He found the family's pet dog attacking the women even though the animal was chained to a porch.

Mayfield, Dorothy Mayfield and another women were injured by the attack and transported to Parkland Hospital In Dallas.

Dorothy Mayfield died from wounds she suffered during the attack. David Mayfield was treated and later released. The other woman remains in the hospital.

According to family members, the dog -- a Great Dane named Brutus -- was previously well behaved. They said the dog snapped for an unknown reason.

Holly Henderson, the daughter of the hospitalized victim, called the attack an accident.

"It's a freak thing. It's bizarre," she said. "This doesn't happen every day. Not everybody's dog does this. This doesn't normally happen. I mean, it's just a very weird situation. It's almost like a nightmare."

Brutus was euthanized, and his remains will be tested for rabies by state veterinary examiners.

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

chained to the porch.... oooookkkkkkk... one issue right there... i wonder if brutus had rabies, or if the dog was chained from the start to the porch the entire time they had him? or was it genetics???

I bet you it was chained from the very beginning and then was only fed. More and likely this dog had very little human, loving contact. Sad when you have to get a dog and keep it on a chain. The closest my dog's ever came to a chain was a runner and that was only used when we went outside. We used one for a couple of months till we got our fence put up, just to let my dogs get a little excercise while I worked in my garden.